Chapter 63: Are You Ever Afraid?
Translator: Pluto Editor: Tehrn
None of the other people noticed Lin Sanjiu blatantly appearing before the two Executives because everyone was busy, but this was something no one would even imagine.
Marcie was sprinting when suddenly an intense draft erupted in front of her. “Bang!” Somehow, Marcie’s head collided with the empty space ahead, and she nearly fell. She reached out and realized that there was an invisible wall, but she did not know how far it stretched. Holding her slightly injured nose, she turned to look at Chen Jinfeng, who was just a few meters away.
He couldn’t help smiling as he wrung his hands with a sick satisfaction. He stepped a few steps toward her and said, “Look. Here we meet once again.”
Marcie eyed him coldly. She placed her hands down and extended her nails.
Despite the light streaming from the searchlights above, it was difficult to spot Marcie’s extended nails which now lacked a reflective metallic surface. Only Marcie herself could see that the nails on both her last fingers had broken off, leaving two missing extensions.
But Chen Jinfeng paid no heed to her display of aggression. His eyes lingered on her bosom before he laughed, “Just so you know, I’ve seen Septimus.”
That statement caught Marcie’s attention.
“I guess you two are still on bad terms. I met him just this morning. He told me the reason why you disappeared and even gave me a little information about your nails…” there was a loathsome smile on Chen Jinfeng’s face as he spoke with a syrupy tone. “As long as I break off your nails one by one, you won’t be able to hurt me, right?”
[12 went to look for Chen Jinfeng? Where is he now?] Marcie knew that Chen Jinfeng would not answer her questions, so she didn’t bother asking. “If you think you can evade my nails, then go ahead and try,” she uttered monotonously.
Chen Jinfeng’s smile visibly waned, then he clapped twice. As the sound he made faded, rings of colors radiated from where they stood. In less than a second, their entire surroundings changed entirely.
The poorly-lit factory compound disappeared and was replaced by a forest filled with a collection of weird plants. The sun was shining above, and the ground was covered by wild grass. Marcie was standing at a rather open area, she could even see a swath of blue sky through the canopy. Chen Jinfeng was no longer standing where he was just moments before. Now, there were only a few small yellow flowers in that spot.
Marcie took a few cautious steps forward, she placed all her focus on listening to her surroundings. She was trying to see if she could hear any movements nearby.
Chen Jinfeng’s voice came down suddenly from the blue sky above: “The territory I showed you previously was just the basic version of my ability. I am using my full power today. How is it? Beautiful, right?”
Once he finished his sentence, a shadow spun rapidly toward Marcie. It was extremely fast, but at the same time, its speed created a very faint sound of rushing air. Marcie only realized its presence when it was just at the back of her head. She instantly dodged by turning her head. The unknown thing flew past her face and landed on the ground.
A streak of blood slowly appeared on the tip of Marcie’s nose. Still startled, Marcie stared at the item and discovered that it was just a wildflower.
The petals of the hardened wildflower were wide-open, and each of them had a sharp blade-like edge. Once it rotated, it was just like a beautiful meat grinder. Marcie picked up the flower and tested it on her hair. A few red locks of hair fell to the ground.
“Haha! How is it? Isn’t it pretty good? Let me tell you something. I can convert everything within my territory into a weapon. It is not just that wildflower you’re holding.”
Marcie tried to locate the direction where the voice originated from. But the very next second, Marcie found herself running as fast as she could as multiple flat blade-like fragments fell from the sky almost as if chasing her. She only stopped when she had run about twenty meters. When she turned to look behind, she saw multiple flat hardened clouds sticking out from the ground.
[F*ck. That is really everything!] Marcie thought to herself as she quickly examined her entire surroundings. Even though the sky seemed boundless, and the forest seemed to go on forever, Marcie knew that this illusory territory must have a boundary as it should still be constrained by the natural laws of reality. She remembered that when they were in the infirmary, that illusory territory was only the size of a single room. At that time, she could still hear noises from outside the room…
Despite the fact that this place was not as large as it appeared, the main problem was that she did not know where Chen Jinfeng was hiding.
“Now…” Chen Jinfeng’s voice rang out again. The instant Marcie reacted, she saw a green shadow coming toward her. She dodged with a somersault, only to realize that the attack was not aimed at her but only her hand. The vine which attacked her stopped in mid-air. It shook and two long nails it “held” dropped to the ground.
Marcie looked at her nails and discovered that the nails of her left ring finger and middle finger had been broken off.
“You only have eight nails left…” Chen Jinfeng amplified his gloating voice. “After I get rid of all your nails, I will come out to see you. We’ll have some fun then, won’t we?”
Chen Jinfeng had gotten it wrong, Marcie only had six nails left. She could feel a bead of cold sweat rolling down her forehead, she was getting anxious. She knew that she could not withdraw her nails as they were her last line of defense.
[Where could he be?] Marcie searched her pockets, but it was disappointing. During their time here in Oasis, she already grew accustomed to the presence of electrical lights, so she didn’t even have a lighter on her. If she did, she might just try to burn the place down.
Just then, she spotted a black shadow from the corner of her eyes. Marcie had no idea what it was, but she didn’t dare to use her nails. Her only option was to run! When she turned to run, she did not expect to see over ten branches whizzing toward her. She panicked, quickly fell to the ground and rolled to one side as she protected her head with her hands.
“Great! Only seven left!” Chen Jinfeng laughed. Another of Marcie’s nail broke when it stuck onto one of the branches.
[Five.] That was the actual numbers of nails left. She had two nails on her left hand and three on her right.
[Huh?] Marcie suddenly stood still. The sun in Chen Jinfeng’s territory was not overly intense, but sunlight spilled throughout the entire place. She could see the green leaves and branches of the trees. She could see the azure blue sky. She could see everything clearly. The amount of light far exceeded that in the dim darkness in Oasis. Yet, she realized that Chen Jinfeng did not know the exact number of nails left on her fingers.
[Is he hiding behind something so he can’t see?] Marcie gulped. If she just defended herself passively like this, she would become a sitting duck once all her fingernails were broken. If so, she would rather take a risk. Her heartbeat soared, and she could even feel the tremors through her chest, Marcie looked to both sides. Suddenly, she sprinted toward the thick forest. This time, she didn’t hold back. Running at her fastest speed, she raced toward the forest leaving a series of afterimages behind.
Behind her, countless grass, leaves, branches, and flowers floated up in mid-air covering almost half the sky. It was quite a sight to behold.
“Oh? You are trying to hide?” Marcie did not know if she was imagining things, but Chen Jinfeng’s tone seemed a little different. Shortly after, the hundreds over hundreds of weaponized flora and fauna followed her into the forest with a swoosh.
The threat did not only come from behind — in that instant, Chen Jinfeng also started to weaponized the branches and leaves in the forest. Marcie could see the menacing amount of razor-sharp edges gathering before her. They rained down upon her.
Marcie, herself, did not know how she managed to move forward. Her forearms were covered in blood as she used them to protect her head and face, and some of the cuts on her body were so deep that they reached her bones. A few steel-like flowers had embedded themselves in her thigh, so every painful step forward felt as if the nerves in her legs were screaming for her to stop.
Needless to say, her clothes were in tatters after that hurricane-like attack, exposing her fair skin and bleeding wounds. Despite that, Chen Jinfeng did not make a single comment about her half-exposed state. Instead, his voice sounded more and more strained, with even a hint of desperation: “Six, five, four…” he was counting down the number of nails.
“Three!”
When he said that, Marcie only had one extended nail left. The seemingly endless forest finally stopped at a river. There were a few ripples in the river, and it was sprinkled with the reflection of a few golden sun rays.
As she looked at the river, Marcie saw the reflection of her own bloodied face with her slightly sinister smile. She managed to protect her last remaining nail. No matter how vicious the previous attacks were, Chen Jinfeng could no longer continue counting.
“I’ve found you at last…”
Just as she said that, someone rose up from the surface of the idyllic river, and water spewed everywhere. The person jumped out and ran in the opposite direction.
“So you do get scared.” Marcie sneered. She had never felt this much energy coursing through her body…
Under the dazzling azure sky, a woman covered in blood leaped into the air as her prey scrambled on the ground. For a moment, it was as if everything froze in a picture perfect scene.
Chen Jinfeng felt a sharp burning pain shoot through his back and saw a glimpse of a drop of his blood. Just when he screamed: “No—“
The sunlight disappeared. The blue sky disappeared. The grass, the forest, the river, everything blurred and gradually faded from his sight.
Once again the poorly-lit building in the factory compound reappeared.
The scathing hot air surrounded him, each agonizing breath was like self-torture. Even before he could feel the pain from his skin which came in direct contact with the ground, he could see white smoke accompanied with the smell of burnt flesh.
[So this is how it feels to be a person without a heat resistance adaptation?]
Chen Jinfeng gasped violently like a fish out of the water. He felt as if his insides were disintegrating. Without warning, he felt a foot pressing down heavily on his throat.
“Here, we meet once again.” Marcie lowered her head, peering down at him. Even though she was covered with cuts from head to toe, she looked serene. “But, I really don’t wish to see you again…”
“No. No… Please… Please!”
Marcie had no reason to spare him. Her remaining sharp nail easily pierced through Chen Jinfeng’s forehead just as if it were tofu.